It was a reunion of sorts Tuesday on Pittsburgh’s North Shore with three of the four founders of one of the city’s early tech superstars FORE Systems reminiscing and offering some pearls of wisdom behind the company’s multibillion dollar success.

Francois Bitz, Onat Menzilcioglu and Eric Cooper — the F, O and E of FORE — were on hand along with Thomas Gill, who joined the company early on as CFO but eventually became president and CEO; and Mike Green vice president and general manager of worldwide sales for a discussion hosted by the Pittsburgh Technology Council.

To recap, FORE was founded in 1990 by Bitz, Menzilcioglu, Cooper and Robert Sansum who were all Carnegie Mellon University researchers working on computer networking projects. When the team finished up a project in 1989 they thought they could take the research out of the university, Cooper recalled. “We thought we could solve some real world problems,” he said, noting that the tech world in 1990 was very different than today and their networking research with fiber optics and switching was cutting edge.

The team eventually built a company based on technology called ATM, asynchronous transfer mode, that allows networks to link and transfer information quickly. FORE’s technology also allowed voice, video and other data to be transferred simultaneously.

The company went public in May 1994 and in 1999 it was acquired for $4.5 billion by the British firm General Electric Corp. plc.

Key to the company’s success the panel said was the trust the four founders had in each other and the culture they were able to develop in the company.

That unique environment is something Menzilcioglu said he only came to appreciate afterward. “The way the four of us interacted and trusted each other and complimented each other was key,” he said, adding that they always kept their focus on the big picture which allowed them to put small conflicts aside.

The team also focused on only hiring the best which led to a company culture of a strong work ethic, responsibility and team work, Gill added. But, finding the people was tough, Bitz said, especially early on.

That’s a problem that hasn’t changed in the decades since the company’s founding and is a challenge companies today complain about.

Another key element was having a good legal team in early, Menzilcioglu said.

As the company grew it received its first acquisition offer in 1997 for $20 million, an amount that Bitz said he was happy with, but, laughing he added he was also happy it was passed up.

The final deal in 1999 happened pretty fast, said Gill, who by that time was CEO. Talks with GEC started in March and the all cash deal was announced in April and closed by June. And the negotiations were tough, according to Gill, and Cooper who was then chairman, and Marlee Myers, partner at Morgan Lewis and who at the time represented the company. The final deal was for $35 a share but it only came after what GEC called its final offer of $32 per share.

The board said no to $32 per share and GEC flew a due diligence team to Pittsburgh for a weekend to pour over the company. By Sunday night Gill said he was sleeping with his cell phone and home phone waiting for the call.

It came at 6:30 a.m. The deal was done for $35 a share.

The next day, the team told the employees. The deal included vesting and paying out stock options — part of the company’s compensation meant that everyone had options — so it was “a very good deal for employees,” Cooper said. Employees gave them a standing ovation, he recalled.

Myers noted that getting everyone’s options vested and paid was a testament to the culture and commitment that the management team had to employees. GEC had offered options in their company, but because it was on the London Exchange it would have been complicated, she said, and the FORE team knew it had a bargaining chip since other buyers were interested.

“(They) knew they could get a good deal for shareholders but were adamant about the employees,” she said.

Looking around at the current technology community, Cooper said the region is he still capital and management level talent, but, it is getting better.

Green, who is now on the Innovation Works board of directors and working with Power of 32, a regional visioning initiative, said there is always a need for more capital but there are people working to raise the profile of deal flow in this area.